Redemption -- (Just Read the Directions)

I want to share an experience that I had this week. I purchased some ribbon bookmarks for my Bible—the kind that have multiple ribbons coming from a central starting point.

I opened the package and skipped the directions—I mean, who needs directions for a bookmark? Oh, please. I’d already taken way too much time in selecting just the right bookmarks that had the colors I wanted, and I was anxious to put them to work. The ribbons were plenty long, but on the end where they were attached, they disappeared into a flat piece of cardboard that was about half an inch wide and maybe two inches long. This wasn’t what I was looking for. I didn’t want a bookmark that had ribbons attached to the bottom of it, nor did I want something that was going to flap around from the top. It made absolutely no sense. I was so annoyed; I resigned myself to the fact that I’d probably have to just take them back the next day.

After some careful consideration, and a good night’s sleep, I came up with a really clever solution. I dug through a jar of buttons that I have, found one that had a shank on it and looked okay, and cut the cardboard off. I threaded the ribbons through the button, tied them off, and voilà, I had solved the problem.

Except...the button looked kind of dumb and the ends I’d tied were sticking up so that my Bible looked like it was having a bad hair day.

Totally frustrated and completely dissatisfied with my own solution and the results it produced, I decided to read the directions that I’d tossed aside so casually and, admittedly, with a certain amount of disdain. And there it was...the answer. The cardboard was meant to slip down between the spine and the cover of the book with the ribbons coming up and over so that they were anchored and ready to use. I wondered if I could pry the cardboard holder open and reattach them. I could, and I did. And then, when I was taping everything back together, I noticed what was printed on one side of the cardboard: “Redemption – Isaiah 1:18.”

“‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”

God’s promise to redeem us and clean up our mistakes. Now I will admit to you that I’d seen it earlier, but, quite frankly, I’d shrugged it off and chalked it up to another one of those “Christian branding things” where they print scripture on everything. (A sad reaction, but true.) I’d thought it was nice, but I didn’t see the point. And then it hit me. As I slipped the tag marked “Redemption” into the spine of the Bible, I began to wonder:

- How often have I skipped God’s directions?
- How often have I focused on appearance and completely missed the point?
- How often have I tried to do it myself, only to end up making a mess that doesn’t really work?
- How often have I been given the very words that I need from God and ignored them?

God, once again, demonstrated his patience—and his sense of humor—while teaching me a lesson.

We’re all like the label—we need to anchor ourselves in the Bible. We need to let it be our spine, the core of who and what we are. We need to read it and we need to use it—it’s our set of directions. And when we do, we’ll find that “Redemption” is there, inside, for each of us.